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Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Recipe: Salted Peanut Butter, Pretzel and Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies

 

This cookies should come with a warning: one cookie is never enough.
Combining salted peanuts, pretzels and dark chocolate would have been a madcap idea once upon a time, but now it seems like everyone is on the salty and sweet bandwagon. With good reason. It's deliriously good.

There's something intriguing about the way salty and sweet play off against each other. The sweetness of a dessert can be overwhelming on the palate sometimes, but if you introduce a salty element then suddenly your tongue is twitching, your palate is reinvigorated and I always find my appetite is immediately primed for more.

Combining peanut butter and pretzels has been an obsession of mine since I had my first scoop of Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby ice cream over ten years ago - a mix of vanilla malt ice cream with swirls of peanut butter and nuggets of fudge-covered peanut butter pretzels. Designing a cookie with peanut butter, pretzels and dark chocolate sounded like my kind of heaven. A sprinkle of Murray River sea salt flakes made it even better.

I happened to find a bag of peanut pretzels in an Eastern European deli but they're not really essential in this recipe - normal salted pretzels will do. These cookies veer between salty and sweet with every mouthful which makes them dangerously addictive. Even more so if you're a peanut-lover like I am. Bake a double batch. Maybe three. Don't say I didn't warn you.


Griski Macedonian peanut pretzels; dark chocolate chunks; and raw cookie dough

Salted Peanut Butter, Pretzel and Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies

250g (1 cup) salted butter, softened
250g (1 cup) crunchy peanut butter
200g (1 cup) brown sugar
100g (1/2 cup) sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 eggs
450g (3 cups) plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
200g dark chocolate, chopped roughly
150g (1 cup salted) peanuts
60g (1 cup) smashed salted pretzels
Murray River pink salt flakes for sprinkling

  1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) or 160°C (320°F) if fan-forced.
  2. Cream butter, peanut butter and sugars using an electric mixer until pale and fluffy.
  3. Add vanilla extract and eggs and beat well.
  4. Add the flour, baking powder and baking soda and mix until combined.
  5. Stir through the dark chocolate, peanuts and pretzels.
  6. Roll the mixture into balls the size of a teaspoon and place on a tray lined with baking paper, leaving a gap of about five centimetres between each one. Press each ball down lightly with a fork and then sprinkle with Murray River pink salt flakes.
  7. Bake at 180C for 8-10 minutes.
  8. Allow to cool on a wire rack.


Cookies before baking


Salted Peanut Butter, Pretzel and Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Related Grab Your Fork posts:
Bourke Street Bakery Dark Chocolate and Sour Cherry Cookies
Easy Peasy Three Ingredient Peanut Butter Biscuits
Malted Milk, Dark Chocolate and Malteser Cookies
26 comments - Add some comment love

posted by Helen (Grab Your Fork) on 9/21/2011 05:03:00 am


26 Comments:

  • At 9/21/2011 6:00 am, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I can imagine these would taste soooo good!!

     
  • At 9/21/2011 6:32 am, Blogger Peter G | Souvlaki For The Soul said…

    OOOH yeah! Another cookie recipe...love all the flavours and I adore the sweet and salty combination.

     
  • At 9/21/2011 8:04 am, Blogger hungryandfrozen said…

    WHAT a combination. Clever you. As well as sounding lipsmackingly delicious, I like that there are baked goods inside these baked goods ;)

     
  • At 9/21/2011 8:25 am, Blogger Stephcookie said…

    These look SO good. I love sweet and salty dessert and have been planning to bake something with pretzels soon :D

     
  • At 9/21/2011 8:40 am, Blogger Michelle Chin said…

    ah, pretzel in cookies!!! this sounds lovely!

     
  • At 9/21/2011 8:44 am, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    You've managed to mix three of the most addictive foods in one cookie. Congrats!

     
  • At 9/21/2011 9:19 am, Anonymous Tina@foodboozeshoes said…

    Ooooh, I haven't had plain pretzels in so long.... Is this a little 'Stoner's Delight' inspired? :)

     
  • At 9/21/2011 9:32 am, Anonymous emmaline said…

    you have single-handedly ruined my diet :)

     
  • At 9/21/2011 9:34 am, Anonymous chocolatesuze said…

    i heart pretzels! bring on the cookie overload!

     
  • At 9/21/2011 10:21 am, Blogger Cooking Quidnunc said…

    WOW! Great combination of ingredients!

     
  • At 9/21/2011 10:56 am, Anonymous Nic@diningwithastud said…

    Oh. My. God! These look freaking good!!! Love the salty sweet and this is like the perfect beer snacks all combined in to one cookie. YUUUUM!

     
  • At 9/21/2011 11:16 am, Blogger Lizzi said…

    Some of my favourite flavours, all in the one place!! I'm scheming to make a caramel popcorn version of this... I have high hopes! (and blood sugar levels to match!)

     
  • At 9/21/2011 11:46 am, Anonymous rockahenry said…

    mmmm.... salty peanuts

     
  • At 9/21/2011 11:51 am, Blogger Rita (mademoiselle délicieuse) said…

    It's like those Japanese choc-coated pretzel sticks, but with the added bonus of peanut butter AND in cookie form!

     
  • At 9/21/2011 4:51 pm, Blogger Kay @ Chopstix2Steaknives said…

    I love the whole salty and sweet combo and this looks delicious!

     
  • At 9/21/2011 4:52 pm, Blogger sugarpuffi said…

    zomg how awesome is salted peanut butter :D put it into a cookie and it's even better

     
  • At 9/21/2011 9:59 pm, Anonymous Sara - Belly Rumbles said…

    Salty chocolatey goodness, another killer biscuit recipe Helen!

     
  • At 9/21/2011 10:16 pm, Anonymous Hannah said…

    One day, I'll marry you.

     
  • At 9/22/2011 11:34 pm, Anonymous Valerie said…

    At first I thought these were only available in one of the fabulous Sydney restaurants but then I saw the recipe...amazing!! Cannot wait to try these out!

     
  • At 9/22/2011 11:35 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I'm so hungry now!

     
  • At 9/22/2011 11:37 pm, Anonymous Spencer said…

    looks like a wonderful recipe. I like the combination of dark chocolate and pretzel.

     
  • At 9/23/2011 12:14 am, Blogger Mim said…

    OMG Griski peanut pretzels!! I first fell in love with them after picking up a pack at Belgrade train station, just to get rid of my spare change before leaving Serbia. It was the best comfort food you could ask for after getting my phone stolen at the station! Where did you find them? I MUST get my hands on some!

     
  • At 9/23/2011 12:26 am, Blogger Helen (Grab Your Fork) said…

    Hi Hungryandfrozen - lol yes there's something oddly alluring about including baked goods in baked goods!

    Hi Tina - I haven't had the Stoner's Delight before - it was mostly my obsession with Chubby Hubby ice cream!

    Hi Mim - It was an Eastern European deli in Liverpool, corner of Moore St and Northumberland - diagonally opposite Akash Pacific Indian restaurant. Good luck and enjoy!

     
  • At 9/24/2011 10:59 pm, Blogger M-H said…

    I've been making the compost cookies a la Momofoku, but these look better - the compost cookies come out a bit flat for me. I'll have to try these.

     
  • At 10/04/2011 4:59 pm, Anonymous Wendy said…

    Made these this weekend and they were a huge hit. Thanks for the inspiration!

     
  • At 10/11/2011 11:42 am, Anonymous Spencer said…

    Intriguing combination! If it tastes anywhere near as good as it looks it must be great.

     

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